Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes: “People give a better first impression on Zoom calls if they have books or plants behind them, rather than a living room or a novelty background – such as a walrus in front of an iceberg. [Researchers from Durham University in the United Kingdom] superimposed faces onto six different backgrounds and asked 167 people to rank how trustworthy and competent they thought the people in the images were. The most favorable first impressions were given to the people in front of the bookcase or plants.